Parents and Children
by Carnivalgirl
Summary: DH Spoilers... Harry talks to Andromeda about the future of Teddy, while his parents look on from the afterlife. Loss is a painful thing, but none of the Lupin family are truly alone. A fan fiction written to commemorate Remus and Tonks.


**A/N:** I wrote this to deal with my sadness over the deaths of my favourite couple, as well as, hopefully, helping others to do the same thing. I don't know what's going to happen to Fabulous Destiny now that the canon has blown it out the window...but if you want it to carry on, please say so and I'll work on it. It feels very unfair to me that Remus and Tonks died, especially after having their baby though I see the purpose of it, and so I decided to write what I hope happened next.

**Parents and Children**

Harry felt a strong desire to meet his godson in person. He'd seen a photo, but he had been concentrating so little he barely remembered what the baby had looked like. As it turned out, he and his doting grandmother Andromeda were two of the only mourners left at the end. He had seen them during the ceremony; she had clung to Teddy like he was the last child on Earth, tears pouring endlessly down her face. Feeling incredibly awkward, especially since their last meeting hadn't been the best, Harry approached her.

Teddy was beginning to wake up now. Harry didn't know whether it was a tragedy or a relief that he had slept soundly through his mother and father's funeral, but seeing his tiny and innocent face brought tears to his eyes. Andromeda was looking at him with the same soft gentleness with which she held her grandson.

"Hello, Harry. I'm so glad you came."

"I wouldn't have missed it for anything." he said, painfully. "I feel so..." He didn't finish the sentence. He wanted to say guilty, but at this particular time, he felt nothing but worry and pity. The image of Lupin's pale, desperate face all those months ago in Grimmauld Place came to Harry's mind as he thought of the little one's future.

"Andromeda...can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Harry. Anything." she said.

"Do you know if he...if he...will be a werewolf?"

Andromeda looked at Teddy lovingly before speaking. "No. He's been through two full moons, no transformations, though I have been cautious. I did finally get a Healer in..."

"Finally?"

"Harry, Nymphadora never saw a Healer. Remus, Ted and I were all worried for her health and the baby's, but we knew she could never go to hospital. If she told them she was pregnant with the child of a werewolf, they would think she...was some sort of...they would have locked her up. I ended up delivering him..." She took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Anyway... The doctor who came the night before last was wonderful. She was young, but skilled, and she was so kind...I was sobbing my heart out every five minutes for my poor daughter, and Teddy wasn't on his best behaviour either. Her name was Angelina...like an angel. Anyway, Teddy...didn't sleep, he just lay there, crying a little. I felt so sorry for him but I didn't understand it at all. But then the sun rose and...he was fine. Went straight to sleep, but otherwise, absolutely fine. Healer Johnson said he'd probably have bad moments, but nothing really resembling lycanthropy. I was so relieved..."

It had been the news Harry wanted to hear, but he felt his muscles tense a little.

"Remus said you were..." He didn't want to use the word 'disgusted'. "...that you didn't like him."

Andromeda, whose eyes had returned once again to Teddy, looked up at him in shock.

"I never disliked him. I was wary by all means, but I didn't dislike him. He was the man she chose, and I of all people understand that. Ted and I were just so_ scared_, Harry. Coming from a family like mine, and having a daughter that insisted on...risking her life..." she blinked. "I think sometimes I was born to worry. Remus leaving didn't help much either. But Nymphadora understood him. She knew, and told me repeatedly, that he was a good man, and he was, Harry. He was wonderful."

The words made Harry's heart ache, and he looked at the grass in despair.

"He really had a gentle character. He was clever, too. I told him once, while Nymphadora was having a rest upstairs, that he could be a writer or something at the end of the war, and he told me that he wanted to make up stories to tell Teddy. Stories about happiness and friends and beautiful days. Stories that would help teach him to be a good person."

Harry had regretted the baby's being an orphan, but he never regretted it as much as now. He felt ready to cry, but when he saw the tears falling down Andromeda's cheeks, he knew he could not. Teddy was fully awake now, and was staring bewilderedly at his grandmother. Harry took a deep breath.

"Andromeda, can I...hold him?"

She nodded, and held him out. Harry could not take him, though.

"I...I've never held a baby in my life..."

She smiled sympathetically, and moved closer to him. With her help, Teddy was soon resting peacefully in his would-be godfather's arms.

"You're a natural."

"Are you joking?" Harry responded. He felt terrified that he would drop him. He seemed so fragile. And yet...his little body was warm, and his cheeks were red, and his formal, deep violet baby robes were made of a smooth material that felt soft on Harry's arms. Though he knew they probably didn't live up there exactly, he raised his head and smiled at the cloudless sky. The sun dazzled him and he could barely see, but he wanted Teddy's parents to know that their son would be safe with him.

Seeing Harry's adjustment, Andromeda started to say something, but then stopped. She had not gone unnoticed though, and he looked at her in concern.

"What is it?" he asked, kindly. She was crying fully now, her brown eyes shining and her face looking grey against the colours of the summer day.

"Harry...I've lost so much. Ted..._Nymphadora_...Remus-I cared about him Harry, honestly-and before that, my family. I know you probably think they were evil...they _were_...but when you're a child you don't know these things, all you see is that they're family... Harry, I know Remus and Nymphadora chose you as Teddy's godfather, but if it's alright with you, I would really, _really_ like to take him. By that I mean...have him. Raise him...Harry, I'm so _lonely _now..."

Poor Teddy seemed so oblivious, finding comfort in his godfather's stiff, teenage boy arms. Harry knew how Andromeda was feeling. He never thought he would stop feeling it until now.

"...please, Harry." she finished, her voice hoarse and desperate. "He means so much to me."

"There was never a question." Harry said, immediately. "He's yours. You'd be a better parent than me any day. But I _will _visit him. As often as I can...three times, four times a week!" He didn't know exactly what he was saying, but something in him longed to be a good godfather.

"Come every day if you want!" Andromeda said, sounding as dazed with happiness as her son-in-law had done the day Teddy was born. "I would be honoured to have you."

* * *

Remus and Tonks were happy that their son was safe, but that did not stop them from missing him. Today, though there were no exact days in the afterlife, had been excruciating for them. Knowing that today would be her funeral, Tonks had been crying all day, wanting more than anything to go back and hold her baby in her arms. It seemed so unfair that she had lost him...she really felt dead, and gone. She thought Remus would be a bit more comfortable...he had adapted to death more quickly than she had, and he had friends here. He was youthful, and energetic, glad to have sacrificed himself for a worthy cause. She had been satisfied too, or at least she had thought she was. She felt so separate from him before now, like he was not her Remus but a different one. 

He had shown her that he was. When he saw his son asleep in his grandmother's arms (for neither of them had paid any attention to what anyone said. They were drawn only to their baby), with the tears falling on his forehead like a christening that had never happened...Remus had, like his wife, cried. He, too, felt eternally frustrated with just looking at his son...sight was nothing.

Lily and James had expected this. Sirius had too, but they were the only ones who really understood...they had felt the pain for seventeen long years, and were perfect supports for those who were feeling it for the first time. Tonks held Remus, but Lily's hand was on her shoulder. Remus held Tonks, but James's hand was on his back. As Harry bade goodbye to Andromeda, and she laid the baby in his pram for the first time in several hours, the high emotions finally ended.

"You see?" Lily said softly. "He's not alone. He never will be. He has unconditional love..."

"He'll never know that it comes from me, too." Nymphadora said, her voice quavering and strained, to her new but somehow close friend, her arms still with her husband.

"He will." Lily said. "Your mother knows you adored him. Harry knows. Remus told him..."

Remus, too, was engaged in a quiet conversation with his neighbour, his oldest and first friend.

"James, do you remember what you said the day Harry was born?"

"Of course I do." James replied instantly, warmly. "I declared it the best day of my life, the greatest of my achievements, and the most fulfilling experience I would ever know."

Remus took a shuddering gasp, and held Nymphadora more tightly.

"I...felt...exactly...the same..._way_."

They sat in silence for a moment, buried in their feelings. James looked across to Lily. They both knew it would take time, as well as kind words, for the pain of losing the living to heal. It was difficult to realise that they were not gone, and that some day, in the far future, they would all be reunited.

In the corner of his eye James saw two young men approaching the group of four. One was blond, and slightly chubby, the other was thin, brown haired and had large blue eyes.

"Mourning the living?" The blond man said softly. His voice told James that this man had not died in his twenties, but rather a few decades later.

"A little boy named Teddy." James said quietly, patting Remus's back while Lily smoothed Tonks's. "He was...is... the son of these two. They died saving the wizarding world, and they don't regret it. But it still hurts them to know he'll be an orphan."

The young men nodded. They seemed upset, but James had no idea why. He had never seen either of them in his life or afterlife and was beginning to feel puzzled. He looked over at Lily, who had also turned at the sound of voices. She didn't recognise them either. Remus and Tonks, who were quietly discussing how peaceful their son's life would be with so many loving friends (if not loving parents), appeared not to have noticed.

"Who are you two?"

The blond man spoke first. "You could say I was the original. The original Ted, that is."

Nymphadora Tonks's head turned. Her father smiled at her, his unbeating heart delighted to be reunited with his beloved Dora.

"Dad?"

Ted Tonks nodded, his eyes shining. "You named him after me."

"I loved you." Tonks said. "I wanted him to be like you. You were a brilliant dad." She had stopped crying, stopped sighing...she had found someone, felt the joy of reunion that Remus had. Feeling inexplicably lighter, she moved her arms away from Remus and started to lift herself.

Remus, feeling the absence of his wife and hearing his father-in-law's voice, turned, only for his eyes to meet those large blue eyes of the other man. Though his stomach had stopped functioning, the bottom seemed to drop out of it.

"Remus..." the man said, his voice heavy with the weight of long-held emotion. "You are...a _marvellous_ human being. I...I'm speechless...I can't believe I'm _seeing _you again...oh, Remus..."

Remus and his wife stood, as did James and Lily. Tonks threw himself into her father's arms instantly, hugging him tightly, while John and Remus Lupin beheld each other in awe for a short moment before sharing an equally tight embrace.

And so, as little Ted Lupin settled in his new home, unaware as yet of the love of his parents and friends about him, his parents settled into theirs, with the knowledge that one day, though a long time from now, they would be the family they wanted to be.


End file.
